This invention relates to load carriers that are removably attached to automotive vehicles for transporting bicycles and the like. Heretofore, racks have been attached to vehicle bodies, both permanently and replaceably, and in order to ensure a reliable attachment anchor plates and brackets, etc., have been secured onto or into the vehicle bodies; requiring for example, drilling and welding, or clamping methods of attachment. As a result, the vehicle body is mared and/or defaced as modification is made for the load carrier attachment. Furthermore, skilled time and effort is required to make such prior art installations, whether they be permanent or temporary. Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide a temporary load carrier for removable installation without modification or defacement to the vehicle body onto which it is reliably attached and adapted to support substantial loads, such as at least one bicycle or the like.
The unblemished cosmetic appearance of an auto body is a factor to be taken seriously. That is, it is to be preferred that the auto body remain undisturbed in every respect when the load carrier is removed. In other words, no drilled holes, marks or scratches should be permitted, and this requirement pertains to the interior as well as to the exterior of the auto body. Heretofore, mounting hardware has been fabricated into the vehicle construction as taught by my U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,413 issued July 24, 1984; interior anchors fastened into the body, with exterior cams bearing against the body exterior as taught by my U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,922 issued Mar. 6, 1984; and many other hooked on and screwed on rack structures proposed by the prior art are objectionable because they mutilate and/or deface the auto body. For example, screw fasteners produce holes, and cams and like localized pressure pads and brackets dent into the exterior surface of the auto body. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an anchor and mount system which eliminates fasteners and does away with any modification to the interior or outer body surface. With the present invention, a strap enters through the "crack" between the auto body and trunk lid or any such closure door; and anchorage is by means of an enlargment at the dead end of the strap, that draws up to a stopped position inside the vehicle body. Accordingly, fasteners are entirely eliminated. With the present invention, the aforesaid strap is adjustably secured to a mounting bracket drawn firmly into engagement with the exterior of the auto body, the bracket being padded to protect the auto body finish.
Load carriers of the prior art have been characterized by the complications of folding legs that support a header (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,434,922 and 4,461,413). Rigidity in the erected condition has been ensured by complex hinge joints requiring numbers of parts; and even then collapse is a probability. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a load carrier characterized by an easily erectable leg and header assembly wherein articulated joints are eliminated and replaced by rigidly pinned joints, also easily disassembled. A feature is that there is but one proper assembled condition, wherein the legs and header remain right angularly related.
The load carrier of the present invention is of the type wherein a securement strap draws the aforesaid legs and header into a stopped working position. As taught by said U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,922 a tensioning strap hooks onto a forwardly disposed edge of the trunk lid or door, and this strap is adjusted to draw a carrier into tight working position, and all of which is a satisfactory and acceptable type of arrangement that is utilized herein. However, this present invention does not utilize a cam action which tends to overpressure the auto body, and provides in place thereof an adjustable mounting bracket to which the legs of the load carrier are pinned. There can be several adjusted positions for the legs as they are angularly related to the rear of the auto body, the length of the tensioning strap being adjusted by buckle means to tightly position the load carrier with the header thereof elevated.
An object and feature of this load carrier is its derrick configuration, with davits or cranes that project rearward from the legs at the header level, for the support of at least one or more bicycles or other gear as the case may be. The position of the legs and davits can be static, or they can be dynamic by means of a tackle in place of the aforementioned tensioning straps, whereby the legs pivot on a common axis at the pinned connections to the lowermost mounting brackets.
It is an object of this invention to provide a collapsible load carrier of the character thus far described, and more particularly a load carrier of separable parts adapted to be quickly and easily assembled and disassembled as circumstances require. In accordance with this invention the structural members are a pair of legs and a header, and all of which are stowed in a collapsed condition within a reversible sack. That is, a sack is provided that contains the structural members for storage in a minimum of space, and that is alternately turned inside-out so as to expose the header for use and assembly with the legs. A feature is that the legs are stowed within the header, and the reversed inside-out sack is useable as an envelope for containment of other miscellaneous gear to be transported. The reversed inside-out sack is also used to cushion the load attached to the header, being made of a soft fabric and/or containing soft objects or padding.